A listing of live jazz events, mostly in North Berkshire and South Bucks, PLUS CD reviews from Geoff

Monday, March 26, 2012

This Blog is about The Adverts!!

Coming up in the next few weeks we have some wonderful gigs
lines up for you at the Hedsor Social Club.

Hedsor Jazz has a regular rhythm section, and usually a
regular front line, all called “The Clive Burton Quintet”. However, THIS WEEK
ONLY on Thursday 29th March behind our regular front line of Clive
Burton and Mike Wills we have an alternative rhythm section!

On Keyboard Mr. Ken
McCarthy

On Bass Mr. Steve
Pickings

On Drums Mr. Mike
Jeffries

And you can hear all of them this Thursday at Hedsor for
JUST £5!!

BUT (notice it is a big but) on Thursday 5th
April we have a super “stellar” star guest.

We welcome back, on a day VERY near her birthday, that lady
saxophonist Tracey Mendham, backed by our usual, regular, Boys in the Band!

Not, as those who have been Traceyed before know, that
anything on this night will be usual or regular. Last time she came, some of
our regular customers were saying at the end of a brilliant evening that they
would have paid £20 for an evening like that at Ronnie’s. We will charge you
just £5! Come early, last time it was standing room only, and some of that was
done in the other bar!

But Hedsor Jazz does not rest easily on its laurels (have
you ever tried?). The following week we have not one guest but two. Saxophonists
both, Vasilis Xenopoulos and Peter Cook. Most of you will know the names.
Vasilis is a Master of Music from Berklee, but at one time Peter Cook was one
of his tutors.

I know we could fill the big room at Hedsor for this gig,
but they want to do the gig in the bar, where both have played before, and
where once before they played together. They are now both big star names (go on
line and look them up) and they want to play for us just as they did some years ago.
Come and listen, come early, and we will still only charge you £5, yes, not a
typo, just £5 for this evening. Put it firmly in your diary now.

But Hedsor jazz haven’t stopped here. We have ANOTHER date
for your diary. This time for a Thursday in the Big Room at Hedsor, because we
cannot get the entire band in the bar!!

On Thursday May17th we are having a visit from the 17 piece
big band "The Remix Jazz
Orchestra" led by trumpeter Stuart Henderson. This will cost you a bit
more, £10, but we will tempt you with a little light supper, and an earlier
start of 8pm. Do take a look at their website
http://www.remixjazzorchestra.co.uk/ and but put the date in that diary NOW.

A London Palladium Event

Someone from my past
has asked me to remind you of a special event:-

Hi Geoff,

Any chance of
a further plug for the Buddy Rich concert please, and a reminder that there is
a coach going from Cookham – £60, including ticket (in the Stalls). Every Big
Band fan should be there!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Jazz at Hedsor

First, some dates for your diary.

We still have to finalise a date for Vasilis to come with
Peter Cook, but we do have 2 confirmed dates for star events.

Thursday April 5th has a return visit by Tracey
Mendham. Yes, that is the day before Good Friday, and it is also the day before
her birthday, but Tracey will be with us in the bar at Hedsor that night. She
said that she couldn’t think of a nicer place to be the night before her
birthday. Usual start time, usual £5 entry that night, but come early, she
packed the bar out last time she was with us.

A little further ahead we now can confirm that The Remix
Jazz Orchestrahttp://www.remixjazzorchestra.co.uk/
under the direction of Stuart Henderson will be with us on Thursday May 17th.
This will be a big room event (already booked AND confirmed!), 8pm start, £10
entry, a little light supper, and a lot of big band. 17 of them, check out the
link above and hear what they sound like. This will be a ticketed event, and
tickets will be available shortly. But put that date in your diary NOW.

This coming Thursday we will have the regular Clive Burton
Quintet with us again for the second time in 2 weeks. The week after that, the
fans of bass player Steve Pickings are in for a treat, as he will be with us
that night in place of Ken Rankine. I have refrained from asking for Steve on
April 5th! A clash of personalities in the Hedsor bar may be too
much for its structure!

Recent CD Listen.

As is well known, I sell at Hedsor some previously listened
to CD’s at bargain prices. One CD that I dug out from the “rescued from the
floor collection” and played this past week is the second album by a band that
started out in Manchester, “The Magic Hat Ensemble”. The CD is called “Made in
Gorton”.

It is young modern jazz and has a terrific vibrancy. Well
known tunes are used, but given a definitive twist, which I found incredibly
exciting. The 4 core titles of the CD “You and the Night and the Music”, Seven
Steps to Heaven”, “Just Friends” and “Blues March” must be played at one
sitting (there are 2 other titles, plus a 13 sec fanfare intro!). Seven Steps
segues in to Just Friends anyway and once you have heard how they play those
you will not want to miss Blues March. Wonderfully inventive arrangements,
pretty good solo’s for everyone and a sound that makes you listen very hard!
Blues March starts out as a march, complete with snare drums, gets into a crawl,
and ends with a gallop, but the tune is always recognisable. Their playing is
immaculate, and I haven’t enjoyed a post bop modern jazz album so much in a
long time. Even the cover brings a smile to ones face, after all, we all
remember 45’s don’t we? It’s on the Jellymould label and was recorded in 2011.
Do try some of the complete tracks from their web site http://themagichatensemble1.bandcamp.com/
but don’t stop there, buy it! Full details on heir web site.

Friday, March 09, 2012

I think we were all sorry to learn that Paul Eshelby was
indisposed and therefore unable to come to Hedsor Jazz last night, and we wish
him a speedy recovery and look forward to a future appearance.

However, at incredibly short notice (about 2 hours!) singer
Harriet Coleman stepped in to take her place on the front line alongside Clive
and his trombone. She then gave a thoroughly polished performance and a very
entertaining evening was had by all. I think we must all thank her for turning
out and helping to make the evening so entertaining.

We did have a couple of new faces in the audience, which is
always gratifying. At the end of the evening I asked if they had enjoyed the it
and they said yes, and that they would come again. One of them said it was just
like being at Ronnie Scott’s, and it was “just her kind of music”. Proof, if
ever it was needed, of the quality we put on at Hedsor.

We were a bit thin on the ground last night, and we have
been a couple of times this last month. One of our regulars, who was absent a
couple of weeks ago, got is dad to write us an erudite sick note which I have
included in this message. He has set us a good example, but we should point out
that attendance is purely voluntary, and at the moment, not a mandatory requirement
of the government!

Next week, the full Monty! Well, at least the full Clive
Burton Quintet. Tell your friends, come yourself!

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Good Morning England

Or perhaps you don’t remember that as a catch phrase,
perhaps more as a film! I must admit to not remembering who it was, but I seem
to remember a radio comedian during WW2 used it as his opening phrase!

But as usual, I digress. The important thing is that you now
find out who is on at Hedsor Jazz tomorrow night, March the 8th!!

As our special guest we have BBC Big Band star Paul Eshelby.
Paul has been to us a couple of times before, and his melodic trumpet and
flugel horn playing is well remembered by those who have heard him before. He
will be accompanied by Clive Burton on trombone, and our usual rhythm section.

We are still planning ahead for some more special events at
Hedsor, so do keep an eye on THIS space. 3 events are in the planing stages. We
hope we can capture the Stuart Henderson Big Band for a night in the big room
in May, and before then a small room event with Vasilis and Peter Cook is under
discussion. In October I would still like to run a Saturday of jazz at Hedsor.
A date is still not fixed, but I have already had an offer of attendance from
Nigel Price’s Organ Trio.

For the next 2 or 3 Thursdays we should have the Regular
Clive Burton Quintet with us. That is always subject to better-paid gigs coming
some of their way.

Don’t forget to put April 5th in your diary. It
is Tracey Mendham’s next visit to us, and it is one day short of a) her
birthday, b) Easter!

That’s it for the moment. I have some CD’s to listen to, and
I will report back shortly on those.

So, tell you friends, every Thursday from 8.30 pm, Jazz at
Hedsor Social Club, all for just £5!